Okay, I have to admit, I dragged my heels starting this assignment: reviewing MagWeb. I am a print journalist at heart -- give me the papery feel of a magazine in my hands over a computer screen any day!

I mean, what is MagWeb anyway? Its just a bunch of magazines whose contents have been scanned and put on the web, right?

Wrong.

The newest issues of the magazines (62 when I last logged on) are only half the package. First off, MagWeb is accumulating back issues of them, too. For example, the doughty miniatures magazine, The Courier? Roughly half of its issues -- going back to 1979 -- are online for you to call up. First Empire? About 75% (38 of its 45 issues). MagWeb has committed to uploading at least 10 additional back issues per month. For some titles, they are already have 100% of the back issues online.

So what, you say?

Why do I want to read a bunch of old magazines?

Two words for the web-wise: Search Engine. Embedded in MagWeb is an Excite search engine that allows you to type in key topics, words or phrases and it will search the 11,000+ articles (always growing) online and list those that cover your topic. So, say you are researching that new army or period you're considering plunging into? Type in Great Northern War Danes and bingot You've got a link to articles in MWAN # 93, Perfidious Albion # 97, Lone Warrior # 118, etc.).

Okay, you admit. MagWeb can be a good resource for your my gaming research.

What else?

Do you like to read history books? Or even historical fiction? Well, MagWeb has a department called Sample Chapters. In it are excerpts from various non-fiction books (in 13 historical periods), fiction (3 categories) and tons of rules and games. I'm a member of the History Book Club and had been debating whether to purchase "Battles of the Bible" by Chaim Herzog and Mordechai Gichon. So, what do I see on MagWeb, but Chapter 5 of this book? I was able to read and make my decision whether to buy it.

What else do historical gamers enjoy ... perhaps visiting historic sites or battlefields? In MagWeb's Travel section, you can take a guided tour of Old Fort Niagara in upstate New York, for example. The commentary is laced with clear photos of the fort, reenactors and great background information. So, if you've been considering taking that trip there, or to the battlefields of Trenton, Antietam, etc., you can get a preview. Or just enjoy them from the comfort of your home.

One of the things I enjoy most about e-mail, the internet news groups and the web, is reading other's opinions about books and games. MagWeb has those in spades, with sections covering Book Reviews, Game Reviews and a Discussion Group.

And these articles are all in addition to those in the magazines themselves -- in the Bonus Articles part of MagWeb. Other "bonuses" are Interviews with authors or game designers, War Lore - firsthand accounts by combat veterans (the story of the B-24 tail gunner was riveting), and a News of Interest section.

So, what about the actual magazines?

The first thing that struck me is how FAST your web browser pulls them up. Russ Lockwood, owner of MagWeb, attributes it to several things. They are on their own server, so don't share it with hundreds of other web sites. They pare their HTML coding (I know, its Greek to me, too), graphic size and page design to the minimums needed. I did all my testing of MagWeb during internet "prime time" -- weekday evenings -- with a dinosaur of a modem (14.4 bps), and was impressed how speedy it was.

As far as the selection of magazines, it is more than enough to meet the wishes of the most eclectic gamer (-- always wanted to use that word, eclectic). There are general interest historical miniatures magazines like Battlefields, MWAN, and The Gauntlet. There are period-specific ones like The American Revolution Journal, Dragoman (Ottoman), English Civil War Times, Napoleon, The Zouave and The Heliograph (Colonial). There are house organs like Piquet Dispatch, Operations and Renaissance Ink; board game magazines (Perfidious Albion), role-playing magazines (Shadis, Valkyrie), fantasy (White Dwarf, White Knight) and even some other HMGS chapter magazines like South's excellent Rebel Yell.

When you click on a magazine from the MagWeb Master Magazine Listing, you get a thumbnail graphic of the latest cover, along with a full list of all issues appearing on MagWeb. Clicking on a particular issue pulls up that cover and the table of contents. From there, you click on the article you wish to read. Accompanying graphics appear automatically with the article they were intended for. All articles, columns, reviews, etc., that appeared in the print versions of these magazines appear fully on MagWeb, as well as any graphics. However, the magazine's paid advertisements do not. An added bonus is Russ' folks have arranged the articles to appear in attractive pages that will make them easy to print out and save in a binder for later.

So, what does it cost?

Well, if you just want to take a peek, go to www.magweb.com and you can see the home page and read some sample articles from the latest batch of magazines. If you'd like to subscribe, the cost is cheaper the longer your subscription is. A 12-month subscription is $59.95 ($5 a month!); six months, $44.95 ($7.49 a month); three months, $29.95; one month, $14.95.

Now, you may ask -- what is this "print journalist at heart" going to do? Well, I'm going to sign up for a year. I'll rationalize funding this by letting my current subscriptions to Saga and The Seven Years Association Journal lapse. I'll simply read those magazines online. Together, the two cost more than a one year MagWeb subscription, and I was not going to renew them anyway. Of course, I'll keep my Midwest Wargamers Association Newsletter (MWAN), thoughl It is still my favorite (and I love the ads).

Besides, I still love the thrill of opening my mailbox and getting the latest issue of a magazine. Now, I'll also get that thrill when I go online and check out the latest of many offerings from MagWeb!